print this articleGoogle News about to get a lot more human
When Google News launched a few years back, editors around the globe groaned at the idea that computers could synthesize thousands of news stories and automatically compile a relevant, useful news site. Nowadays, the only complaints I hear about the service come from reporters whose stories aren’t appearing high enough in the index or on a search. I usually shrug my shoulders and say something like, “It’s just a bunch of robots putting the site together. No one knows how.”
The service is about to get a lot more human. Yesterday, Google announced a heavily moderated and very manual new process for commenting on the news stories it’s indexing. Comments will not appear instantly, like on most news sites (and news aggregator sites), but sent for review to Google staffers who will post comments only from those who can make a case that they are somehow involved directly in the news story.
This is quite an ambitious plan. I don’t see it working, since real online conversation only happens when everyone has a chance to participate.
Find some good analysis at Micropersuasion and Techcrunch.
Posted by MarkBriggs on Thursday, August 09, 2007
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